Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-12-23
TABERNACLE SERVICES.
.Suaining a, Gnat and Swallowing a
Camel.


Inside or It-Why the Law Taxing In
comes Was Repealed.
BROOKLYN, Dec. 1L--To-night the Rev.
L. Dewitt Talmage, d. D., preached at
the Tabernacle, this city, on TOO Much
Ado About Small Things" His text was:
.Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat,
and swallow camel" Matt. xiii, "a,
The eloquent preacher said:
A proverb is compact wisdom, knowledge
in chunks, a library in q sentence, the cleo
bolt, q river put through mill race. When
Christ quotes the proverb of the text, he
means to set forth the ludicrous behavior
of those who make a great bluster about
small sins and have no appreciation of
great ones.
In my text small insect and a large
quadruped are brought into comparison-a
gnat and camel. You have in museum
or Oh the desert seen the latter, great
awkward, sprawling creature, with back
two stories high, and stomach having coll
lection of reservoirs for desert travel, an
animal forbidden to the Jews as food, and
in many literatures entitled @the ship of the
desert" The gnat spoken of in the text is
in the grub form. 1t is born in pool or
pond, after few weeks becomes q chry-
sails, and then after o few days becomes
the gnat as We recognize it. But the insect
spoken of in the text is in its very smallest
shape, and it yet inhabits the water-for
my text is q misprint and ought to read
.strain out q gnat."
My text shows you the prince of incon-
sistencies. A man after long observation
has formed the suspicion that in a cup of
or the grandparent OF gnat He goes
and gets sieve or strainer. He takes the
water and pours it through the sieve in the
broad light. He says, II would rather do
anything almost than drink this water I'M
til this larva be extirpated," This water is
brought under inquisition. The expert
ment is successful. The water rushes
through the sieve and leaves against the
side of the sieve the grub or gnat. Then
the man carefully removes the insect and
drinks the water in placidity. But going
out one day, and hungry, he devours
"ship Of the DESERT" the camel, which the
omer has no conjunction Of conscience.
He suffers from no indigestion. He puts
the lower jaw under the cancels forefoot,
and his upper jaw over the hump of the
camel's bnck, and gives one swallow and
the dromedary disappears forever. He
strained out a gnat and swallowed camel.
While Christie audience were vet smiling
ut the appositeness and wit of his illus
tration--for smile they did in church, I'M
less they were too stupid to understand
the hyperbole--Christ practically said to
them. "That is YOU" Punctilious about
small things; reckless about affairs of great
magnitude. No subject ever withersd I'M
der surgeons knife more bitterly than
did the Pharisees under Christ's scalpel of
truth. As an anatomist will take hu.
man body to pieces and put them under
microscope for examination, so Christ
finds his way to the heart of the dead
Pharisee and cuts it out and puts it under
the glass of inspection for all generations
to examine. Those Pharisees thought
that Christ would tiatter them and COM
pliment them, and how they must have
writhed under the red-hot words as He
said, "Ye fools, ye whited sepulchers.
We blind guides. which strain out gnat
and swallow a camel"
There are in our day great many gnats
strained out and IL great many camels
swallowed. and it lis the object of this SER
mon to sketch few persons who arc ex-
tensively engaged in that business.
First: I remark that all those ministers
of the Gospel are photographed in the
text who are very scrupulous about the
copventionalities of religion, but put no
particular stress upon matters of vast i'm
grave and solemn. There is no room for
frivolity i IL religious convocation. But
there are illustrations aud there are hyper
boles like that Of Christ in the text that
| will irradiate with smiles any intelligent
| auditory. There IRE men like those blind
guides Of the text who advocate only those
things in religious service which draw the
| corners of the mouth down, and denounce
all those things which have tendency to
draw the corners of the mouth up, and
these men will go to installations and to
pre.sbyteries and to conferences and TO as
sociations, their pockets full of fine sleeves
10 strain out the gnats, while in their own
churches at home every Sunday there are
fifty people sound asleep. They make
their churches a great dormitory. and their
somniterous sermons are O cradle, and the
drawled- out hymns lullaby, while some
wakeful soul in pew with her fan keep
the flies off unconscious persons approxi-
mate. Now, I say it Is worse to sleep in
church than to smile in church. for the
latter implies ut least attention, while the
former implies the indifference Of
the hearers und the stupidity of the
trinity. or from long watching with the
sick drowsiness will sometimes overpower
one; but when minister of the Gospel
looks OFT upon an audience and finds
healthy and intelligent people struggling
with drewsiness, it is time for him to give
out the doxology or pronounce the bene-
diction. The great fault with church
services to-day is not too much vivacity,
but too much somnolence. The one is an
irritating gnat TINT may be easily strained
out: the other is great, sprnwling, sleepy
eyed camel on the dry desert. In all our
| Sabbath schools, in all our Bible GLASSES,
i'll nll our pulpits we need to brighten up
onr religious messages with snrh Christ
! like vivacity a, We find in the - t.
i take down from my ilbr,~v the
| Biographies of minister's and wrl;e:s of
past ages, inspired aud uninspired, who
have done the most to bring souls to Jesus
| Christ, and find that without II single ex-
cepton they consecrated their wit and
their humor to Christ. Elijah used it when
he advised the Baa'ites, rs they could
not make their god respond, telling them
to cali louder as their god might he sound
asleep or gone a-hunting. job used it
when he said 10 his self conceited com
fortcrs, "Wisdom will die with you.
Christ not only used it in the text, but
when He ironically complimented the pntre-
fed Pharisees, saying, "The whole need
not physician" and when by one word
He describe1 the GINNING of Herod sovino